Oklahoma voted to go wet in 1959 in spite of Will Rogers saying we would be dry as long as the Baptist and the Methodist could stager to the poles. As soon as the vote was taken many Baptist churches voted that if any of their members applied for a license to sell liquor they would be removed from membership in their church. I got caught in a room with six other pastors who had led their churches to vote in that rule and was jumped on by all six because I had not done so and would not say that I would. It was an easier vote for those pastors than it was for me. I was the only one in the room with a member who had applied for a license. It is a lot easier to take stands if you don’t have to actually act on the stand you have taken.
Read MoreI was in Tacoma Washington in the 1980’s. As I left my hotel to have dinner with the host of a convention I was to address the next morning, I noticed a very large number of people gathering in my hotel for a meeting that night. My host informed me that a Moral Majority Rally was to take place and he had been very involved in the planning and promotion of that meeting. I urged him to attend, and I would have room service for my meal, but he refused and took me and his wife to a restaurant away from the hotel.
He was a very committed Christian and saw the Moral Majority as an answer to prayer and the foundation of hope for our country and for the Christian faith. I listened with care and interest as he explained the hopes and dreams of the movement. The idea that Christians could bind together and vote together to have influence and even control of the government seemed to be a thrilling concept to him.
Read MoreChurch is a great place to find friends and fellowship with fellow believers. It is a great place to study the history and doctrines of the Christian faith. It is a great place to find a way to serve others. And can become almost a family to us.
But the church is not the best place to discover and develop a real, close and individualized relationship with Christ. That happens inside the human heart.
Read MoreI can think of nothing harder or more frightening than trying to talk with someone who is dying. If we live long enough there will be those times when a loved one or close friend is facing the end of their lives while we stand paralyzed with fear with no idea about what to say or even if we should say anything at all. Maybe they don’t want to talk about it. Maybe they don’t know they are dying or want to live in denial. What if we say the wrong thing?
The first time I listened to a person tell me about their death I had to hold on to the chair to keep from running from the room…
Read MoreI have often said that one of the things I admire most about Jesus was that He just went about being interrupted because He was interruptible. Now I have added a new trait to the most admirable list. His curiosity. He wanted to know and understand everyone He met and touched.
Read MoreDear Father, Dear Son, and Dear Holy Spirit. This need is so vital and the task so great we will need all three. We must have the wisdom of the Father, the love of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit on this one. We are pleading for some peacemakers. Our divisions are tearing us apart and frankly I have wracked my brain for weeks trying to find some peacemakers who are trying to help us heal and I can’t find any.
Read MoreSomeone wrote “if the meek are going to inherit the earth they must get much more aggressive. Usually, when we are studying this beatitude, we spend most of our time trying to define what Jesus meant by the word meek. Most of our definitions try to figure out how to be meek without being meek. The Greek word means humble but even that does not clear up the whole issue because the meaning of words changes over time. When Sir Christopher Wren dedicated a Cathedral many years ago he was told his work was Awful and Artificial and he took that as a complement.
Read MoreThey named it “The Sermon on The Mount” neither title is accurate. It was more of a mound or large hill than a mountain and it certainly was more than just another sermon to be listened to and rehashed over dinner. This was God in human flesh here to reestablish a relationship between Himself and man and to reveal the secrets to real living. He said, “I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” Evidently that abundant life is not something bestowed on us automatically. It comes when we follow certain principles and attain certain attitudes in our lives.
Read MoreRecently I have had conversations with two very intelligent millennials who claimed to be atheist. In both instances, we were engaged in an extended conversation that was not about religion at all. In both cases I was asked why I believed there was a God. They seemed to accept me as a fairly intelligent person and could not understand how I could believe in God and all of the things that seemed to go along with that belief like seven-day creation and a literal flood.
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